Seventeen year old Jay Sasaki lives in a world where corporations spend millions of dollars to exploit superpowered children and the media defines good and evil. Cursed with the ability to steal souls, Jay leads a double life as both a normal high s...
Work the next day was awkward, to say the least. Vanessa pretended to be absorbed in her work all day in a desperate attempt to avoid speaking to Declan, while Declan constantly found excuses to visit her desk. I was caught in the middle of it all, a position that I never asked to be in.
"Hey, do you want to hear about my trip to Florida?" Declan asked Vanessa as I passed by her desk.
"Not at all," Vanessa replied as she pretended to be engrossed in the article that she was writing.
"It really was nice," Declan said, clearly ignoring Vanessa's previous statement. "I thought about you when I was at the beach."
"I don't want to talk to you, Declan," Vanessa said.
"Why not?" Declan asked.
"Shouldn't that be obvious?" Vanessa said.
Declan lowered his voice and said, "I know that you're probably a little bit upset about the superhero thing, but to be honest, I didn't know that you were Brightside until we met at the Rose Valley Hospital..."
"I'm not mad about that, Declan," Vanessa said. "I'm much more angry that you lied to me for over a year and then cheated on me!"
"You were lying to me too!" Declan shouted.
"At least I didn't make out with one of your best friends!" Vanessa retorted. "We're over, Declan. Why can't you just accept that?"
Declan stormed off and then mumbled, "At least Percy's more honest than you are, Vanessa."
I tried my best to stay away from both of them for the remainder of the day. I occupied myself with filing and fulfilling other employees' demands for coffee, and at the end of the day, Vanessa drove me to the castle, where both of us could finally relax.
When I got there, I found Terry in the break room. He was the only one of Ellen's apprentices who wasn't involved in the crazy situation that was tearing our friend group apart, and as a result, he was just about the only person that I could talk to about it. "Hey Terry," I said to him as he placed his book aside. "What's up?"
"Not much," Terry said. "I heard about what happened with Captain Fedora."
"I was there for it," I said. "I also had to listen to Vanessa and Declan bicker at work."
"That sounds awful," Terry said.
"It was awful," I said. "Terry, I just wanted to apologize for stealing your soul again. I feel like I've just been a terrible person this summer, and that was the start of it. I should have stayed in control of my powers."
"Jay, that's not your fault," Terry said. "Without proper training, it's impossible to control your powers, and even the best of us lose control sometimes."
